Diminishing Love

The Dalai Lama is a guest blogger in the new Ode Roundtable. He had this to share:

There’s too much emotion, too much negative emotion: frustration, hatred, anger. I think that’s the greatest obstacle. So I think as a first step this should be cooled down. Reduced. Forget these things. And I think for the time being, we need more festivals, more picinics. Let us forget these difficult things, these emotions, and make personal friends. Then we can start to talk about these serious matters.

It does seem like many people are more interested in arguing issues and getting upset about the failures of others. I wonder how much of that negative energy is the result of small homogeneous groups of people spending too much time together upset over similar issues. Do we create emotional hurricanes by spinning around the same ideas in a welcoming climate?

I am trying to observe the Broken Heart Manifesto because it breaks me out of my own world, and encourages me to find my way into others hopes and pain. I have found that bringing life to others hopes is more fulfilling than realizing my own dreams. And my own pain has been diminished by attempting to bring healing to others pain.

When my emotions are invested in people rather than issues, emotions such as frustration, hatred, and anger seem to have less ability to cultivate. They still spring up now and then. But they haven’t taken root, and are easier to displace.